Improvement in distilling and condensing apparatus



J. STAFFORD. DISTILLING OILS AND ooNDBNsBR PoR sTILLs.

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Patented Apr. 25, 1854.

lUnirse HSrn'ri-:s

PATENT OrmeaO JAMES R. STAFFORD, OF BROOKLYN, N EW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN DISTILLING AND CONDENSING APPARATUS.

Specification forming part of Letters -Patent No. 10,813, dated April v25, 185:4.

To all whom t may concern): t Beit known that I, JAMEs R. STAFFORD, of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Gondensers for Distilling Oils; andl do hereby declare that the following is a full, clean-:and exact description of thesame, reference being had tothe accompanying drawings, making a part ofl this specification, in which- Figure l is a longitudinal vertical sectionof what I will term the "separatingmondenser Fig. 2 is a transversevertical section of the same.

Similar letters of reference indicate corre- I'spending parts in both ot' the two figures.

VIt is well known that in the process of distillation of rosin, bitumen, asphaltum, and the residuumofgas-works known as coal-tar, as also palm-oil, tallow, lard, and other mineral, vegetable, and animal substances from which oil is obtained, 'the products vary in quality, some being very volatile,while other portions are much less volatile, and that the more volatile oils and acids are generated by the'destru'ctive distillation (so termed) of the substances producing the less volatile oils; and it is also well known that to continue the process of distillation of many, if ynot all, the Vsulostancesalluded to an increasing heat is requiredt The condensers now in use for separating the .different products and different qualities oi" oil fail to be perfectly effective by reason of the want of uniformity of their 0peration consequent upon the absenceof proper means of regulating their temperature.l As the separation is effected by keeping the temperature of the condenser above the volati'lizing-point of' a certain portion, but below that of the remainder, it is very desirable that some means be provided'for regulating the temperature 'of the said vesseLniore especially asthe requisite ,degree of temperature is not positive, but will vary with the quality of material used and withthe nature of the different products to be separated.

My invention consists in a condenser which has its 'exterion surface surrounded or partly surrounded by a jacket or chamber,into which air or'stcam-is'admitted and allowed to escape at the pleasure of the person superintending,

airor steam in a chamber furnished with proper'means of admission and escape. By properly controlling the admission and escape of air or steam to .the pipes or jacket the temperature of the condenser may be always regulated to the required degree.

To enable those skilled in the art to which my invention relates to make -and use my invention, I will `proceed to describe its construction 'and operation.

The condenser which I have represented consists of a vessel, B, in the form of a frustum of a' cone placed horizontally with the pipe A, which leads from the goose-neck ot' the still or retort, entering its smaller end. This vessel should be made of some metalsuch as copper cr galvanized iron-upon which the action of the acids would not be destructive. It is built in Abrick-work C C in such a Way as to leave a Hue or chamber, D, surrounding it.' A pipe, E, leads from the bottom, part of the larger end of the condenser to carry off the oil or condensed products, and another pipe, F, from the top part to carry oft the more volatile products, the first pipe leading through a cooler to a suitable reservoir and the second to another condenser.

c At the lower part of one end ofthe apparatus shown there is an opening, Gt, for the admission of air to the`tlue or chamber D,which may or may not be furnished with a register, and at the upper part of the opposite end there is an opening, H, forthe escape of the air from said due or chamber, which opening must be furnished with a register, I, to stop or regulate the escape. i

'In the inside of the condenser B there is a coil of pipe, J,which enters at the smaller end and passes out at the larger end, being provided with 'cocks a audb near the ends of and outside the condenser. This pipe may be for air or steam; but in the present apparatus it isv supposed to be for steam, and therefore the end c is vsupposed to be in com munication with a steam-boiler or al wastesteam pipe,the cock a 'serving to regulate the admission and the cock b the escape of the steam from the coil.

I would inmost cases use-steam as a condensing agent in preference to air, Where convenient, as its temperature can be more easily ascertained and regulated. At the commencement cf the process'of'distillation air is admitted to the chamberD and steam to the coil J', and their escape at the register I andcock b is prevented until theyacquire theA same degree of temperature as the distilled vapor with which the condenser is" iilled. Then the escape of the heated air and steam and the -entrance of the cooler air and steam are allowed until the temperature of vthe condenser .is reduced to a sufficient degree to condense those products which are less volatile, but not those possessing a higher degree of volatility. The proper temperature is maintainedby'regulating the admission and' escape of the air and steam, which4 pass in currents through the chamber D and coil J. The oils which` are condensed flow out-of the condenser through the pipe E, and are collected and cooled in any suitable manner. .The more volatile products esca-pe through the pipe F to be condensed by some other means.

No uniform rule. can be laid down for the degree of heat requisite tobe maintained in the condenser, as different substances which contain oils require different degrees of temperature to-volatilize them, andv many'substances require an increasing heat to continue the process of distillation, as'I have before stated. i

To illustrate my meaning more clearly, I will take as an example one of the substances from-which oil is distilled-viz., rosin. For the separation of the oils of rosin from naphtha, .creosote, and acids contained in the vapor given out from the rosin in the retort, the temperature Within theco'ndenser'will usually rei quire to be' between 300 and' 400 Fahrenheit, as naphtha is volatilized at a'temperature of about 300, while the article of commerce known as rosin-oil. is not volatilized at a temperature less than 400.. Therefore, if the condenser is kept at a proper temperature--y between 300 and 400-,-the'rosin-oi1 may be condensed, andthe naphtha and acids will escape.

The condenser may be furnished with a thermometer, which will in many instances serve as aguide to maintain the proper temperature for the particular operat-ion when ascertained: but the proper temperature will in most cases be better regulated by examining the qualities of the 'two products. Test-cocks should be furnished to the receivers for this lexamina.- tion, and upon the qualities of the products being ascertained the condensation may be hastened or retarded, when necessary, by aof celerating or checking the currents of air and steam. The two productsobtained by the rst separation may undergofurtherseparation by a repetition of the process described. v

The particular apparatus which I have described is supposed to be constructed with af View to illustrate the employment of both steam and air as condensing agents, and also to show the application of the condensing agentsvinside and outside the condenser; but I may use steam or air separately, and apply it either outside or inside only.

Vhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The employment, for the purpose of separating theA more and less volatile products'of distillation, of a vessel, B, which has an opening, E, for the escape or Withdrawal of condensed mat-ters, and another opening, F, for the escape of the more volatile matters, and which has itstemperature regulated by the admission of steam 'orair through a pipe, J, passing throughits interior or througha cham- ?er, D, surrounding it, substantially as set Orth.

JAMES R. STAEFORD.

Witnesses:

S. H. WALES, S. F. COHEN. 

